Pinterest executives shared virtual stage with celebrities and creators talking about the importance of creating a better online experience

Pinterest announced today the upcoming launch of Creator Code, its content policy designed to keep Pinterest a positive and inspiring place. The Code includes a mandatory set of guidelines within Pinterest, intended to educate and build a safe online community that centers around inclusive and compassionate content. Creators will be required to review and accept the guidelines before publishing Story Pins, Pinterest’s multimedia format. This effort to mitigate negativity is a critical step in the inspiration platform’s journey to build a positive experience online that adds lasting value to the lives of its more than 450 million users around the world.

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The idea for the Creator Code emerged in the middle of 2020 — a year marked with a global pandemic, political and societal movements and riots around the world. Through Pinterest, Creators have the unique opportunity to support and inspire people on their journeys to find positive, inclusive and actionable ideas, during a time when they most need it.

“We’ve been building Pinterest for 11 years, and ever since our users routinely tell us that Pinterest is the ‘last positive corner of the internet’. In that time, we’ve also learned that you need to design positivity into online platforms as deliberately as much as you design negativity out,” said Evan Sharp, Co-Founder, Chief Design and Creative Officer, Pinterest. “The Creator Code is a human-centric way for Creators to understand how to be successful on Pinterest while using their voice to keep Pinterest positive and inclusive.”

To launch the Creator Code, Pinterest hosted a virtual event, where Pinterest’s Head of Content and Creator Partnerships, Aya Kanai, interviewed television personality, author and podcaster Jonathan Van Ness, about the importance of positivity and inclusivity on social media. Creators Peter Som, Alison Cayne and Onyi Moss discussed their positive experiences creating on Pinterest, while Oyin Edogi and Jomely Breton shared how they’re using Pinterest’s newly instated Creator Fund to build their personal brands.

Committing to the ‘Code’ and New Moderation Tools

Creators will be required to agree to the Code before publishing Story Pins, acknowledging their responsibility in keeping Pinterest a safe and positive space. The Code outlines specific rules that Creators must follow, including:

• Be kind: Ensure content doesn’t insult or put others down
• Check my facts: Make sure information is accurate and factual
• Be aware of triggers: Practice discretion when it comes to visually sensitive content
• Practice inclusion: Never intentionally exclude certain groups or communities
• Do no harm: Make sure any call to action or challenge is safe

In addition to asking Creators to create positive content, Pinterest is also introducing several new tools and features designed to provide a safer experience for both Pinners and Creators, including:

• Positivity Reminders for Pinners to adhere to our guidelines and reconsider potentially offensive comments before posting
• Comment Moderation Tools for Creators including comment removal and keyword filtering
• Creators can feature up to three comments within the comment feed to highlight positive feedback
• New Spam Prevention Signals using machine learning to detect and remove bad comments

“There are so many things that we encounter on social media platforms that are not life affirming, and really dehumanizing. That is why I love the Creator Code – it really focuses on positivity and inclusion, and that doesn’t mean we don’t have to talk about difficult things,” said television personality, author, and podcaster, Jonathan Van Ness. “It means that we are not dehumanizing, it’s not tearing folks down, it’s not negatively oriented, it’s not an echo chamber of hate. That is what Pinterest and the Creator Code does – it is allowing us to humanize each other and that is really important.”

Fueling Passions Through Inclusive Creator Funding

Pinterest also shared details on its first-ever Creator Fund at the virtual event. The Fund focuses on uplifting Creators from underrepresented communities in the United States, to start, and offers Creators training and creative strategy consulting, compensating them with budget for content creation and ad credits.

“We’re on a journey to build a globally inclusive platform where Pinners and Creators around the world can discover ideas that feel personalized, relevant and reflective of who they are,” said Alexandra Nikolajev, Creator Inclusivity Lead for Pinterest. “This is reinforced by our commitment to ensure that 50% of the Creators we work with come from underrepresented groups. We believe we’ll only be successful and build a lasting and meaningful platform if Pinterest reflects its global community.”

The specific focus on underrepresented communities is one of many efforts Pinterest has launched on diversity this year alone. In January, Pinterest rolled out AR Try on enabling Pinners the ability to virtually shop and try on eyeshadow shades through augmented reality. The product was integrated with Pinterest’s beauty feature, skin tone ranges, allowing Pinners to filter makeup results by what  best matches their skin tone, while also viewing results on others via Related Looks recommendations. In March, Pinterest expanded the Skin Tone range feature to thirteen additional countries including France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. For retailers and advertisers, Pinterest also introduced the ability for those brands to self-identify if they’re from an underrepresented group so their content may appear in spaces across the platform like the Today tab, Shopping Spotlights and The Pinterest Shop.

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